At the End

SLAM 2004

Slam challenge:Write a poem, on any subject, containing at least one *Ezra Pound couplet*.

An Ezra Pound couplet is unrhymed; it is a juxtaposition of two images, one concrete and one metaphorical. The aim of an Ezra Pound couplet is to present the reader with a powerful visual comparison.

At the End of Winter

I used to sit atop a young pear tree,
kcking my feet in the sparkle of morning.
The sun shone down from my sky of blue,
and I grew taller each day as I climbed.

Peace walks and females soon took me away.
Textbooks dried up my childhood dreams.
I traded the pillows I'd strewn on the floor
for a Naugahyde couch with orange stripes.

With my plastic sleeve full of pencils
and a slide rule hanging from one pocket,
I forgot my seat in the top most limb
and went off in search of a wife.

The days were merry as the kids grew up.
We placed two olives in each martini.
The lawn was green as dollars in the bank,
and we barbecued steaks every Sunday.

Curlers buried the crown of my queen
as her robes became faded terry cloth.
Her literary essays from Berkeley,
dissolved into peas and lime Jello.

The pear tree grew much wider in trunk,
taking far more space than before.
Its healthy leaves became whittled sparse
by the blustery winds of short days.

All too soon, we nibbled on memories
from plastic cups and Green Stamp plates.
While we watched our nightly TV shows,
it rained white on our two bowed heads.

Our bones creaked when first we moved,
morning-stiff as the frost on our windows.
We gathered close beneath our blankets
in order to savor the last dregs of comfort.

The pear tree shrank, limbs crookly askew,
And now it leans like an old graveyard cross.